A moment in paradise – Why I spend money traveling

My favorite hobby by far is traveling. In fact, I get this urge to visit the airport if I’ve been in one place for more than 3 months. I used to travel almost every week for 3 straight months for work. It was exhausting, but I enjoyed it at the time. I still travel for work, but I try to limit it to once a year. It’s no longer as glamorous as it sound, but I still enjoy traveling for fun.

One of my favorite trip was way back in 2010 and again in 2013. It seems like a long time ago, but the memory is still so fresh in my mind. I visited Coron, Palawan in the Philippines back in 2010. It took a plane ride, a car ride on a very rough road, a tuk tuk drive and a boat to get to the final destination.I did this again in 2013. It was worth it,

I spent 4 days to a place where the beach is crystal clear, water is calm, the sand is white and sea creatures are on sight. I’ve met the most accommodating, nicest, and happiest people. Who wouldn’t be happy if they are surrounded by this, plus they get fresh seafood everyday?

I took the same trip in 2013 with my then boyfriend, now my husband. It was even better than I imagined. It was the same calm beach with sea creature on sight while snorkeling above waters.

The entire trip cost less than $1500 per person for 2 weeks. Majority of the expense was the plane ride to the Philippines and to the islands itself. It is easy to spend more than this. For one, we could have chosen to stay on a resort instead of local hotel, eat on a fancy restaurant instead of going to the local market, picking our own catch of the day and asking one of the vendors to cook it for us to our liking. We could have taken a private tour instead of joining the locals aboard their boat to travel from island to island. I’m very lax on my spending when I’m on vacation but I choose to spend it to activities that will bring me closer to the way of life of the locals. Because of this, I spent less.

I realized that $1500 is a lot of money. I spent more than $100 per day, including air fare. Is it budget? Maybe not. I’d like to think of this as normal – as I said, I’m pretty lax with money when it comes to travel.Now, my next adventure will be different and might require me to stay put longer in one place. But for now, I’m enjoying all the memories. That’s the beauty of traveling, no one can ever take away that experience.